Test handlers for electronic components are used in the industry for testing electronic components that have been assembled. In such test handlers, electronic components are typically fed to a high-speed rotary turret using a vibration bowl feeder or other feeding means. The electronic components are then picked up individually by pick heads on the rotary turret and are subsequently conveyed to various testing stations to conduct one or more tests before they are qualified for use.
A testing cycle for a test handler generally comprises the time taken for transferring the electronic component to the testing station, and the time taken to test it. Especially in a conventional rotary turret used for the approach described above, the transfer time is necessary and cannot be eliminated because the steps of transfer and then testing are performed sequentially in time with respect to each electronic component to be tested. If the testing time is long, the system will have to stay idle for some time until testing is completed and another electronic component may be transferred for testing. This forms a bottleneck which makes it difficult to reduce the overall process cycle time. It would be beneficial to reduce or eliminate the impact of transfer time in the overall test process cycle time.